introductions are awkward, aren’t they?

I’m Sara, and I’ll be one of your bloggers when Universal Faith launches after Christmas.

Obligatory “about me” information: I’m a 20 year-old college student majoring in History and minoring in Religion, with concentrations in Russian/Soviet history and Christian traditions. Asking me how that translates to the “real world” is fruitless because I have no concrete ideas…good thing God’s got a plan, because I sure don’t! I love my God, my family, my sorority sisters, and my friends. On top of being a Christian, I’m also a feminist, a Whovian, an academic, a verified geek, a writer, and a fat activist.

So, you ask, what could I possibly be blogging about on a regular basis? Boy, have I got a tale for you!

In case you haven’t noticed, despite Christ’s call to unity among the body of Christ, this is something Christianity is seriously lacking and it’s safe to say there’s a huge amount of misunderstanding between Catholics and Protestants particularly. I happened to have grown up in an Evangelical Protestant church –Society of Friends, to be specific, if that means anything to you, dear reader. After “leaving” the faith (I use that term loosely because it’s doubtful whether I really had faith before that point in the first place), I found myself existing in a strange place of quasi-atheism where I simply was not interested in God. By and large, it was the roughest period in my life; I struggled with self-mutilation and often entertained thoughts of suicide, going so far as to being ready to die more than once. I was probably one of the most hateful and moody people you could ever meet because I hated myself and I hated everyone around me. At 15, God met me where I was and essentially presented me with an ultimatum by revealing Himself to me: choose me and I will give you life, or deny me and you’ll surely die. At that point, I started falling head first into God because He gave me a reason to live. Ever since then, He’s been leading me to a lot of places; in fact, He has a habit of taking me places I am reluctant to go because I know the path will be really tough. One of those places, as of late, is the Catholic Church. I am currently in RCIA with the full intent of receiving the Sacraments of First Communion and Confirmation in April and I can’t get enough of Catholicism.

So, back to the question of what I’ll be blogging about! As a Protestant in the process of conversion, in my mind, I have an interesting perspective on Catholicism in general and also Protestantism in general. Through my participation in this movement, I seek to look at various popular misconceptions of Catholicism and also to provide a Protestant perspective in order to foster inter-denominational understanding and respect.

Also, props to anyone who caught the Veggie Tales reference in this post. You win my respect. On that note, I’ll see ya’ll again after Christmas!

I’m very excited to hear about how you balance your feminist beliefs to the tenets of the Catholic faith. It’s something that I’m constantly having to explain to my more radical and secular feminist acquaintances, classmates, and colleagues.